Television

Monday, November 21, 2016

Court: Botched Okla. execution that took 43 minutes not a violation of Eighth Amendment

The botched execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma
disturbed witnesses and stirred the nation: A convicted murderer, deemed
unconscious, began twitching and convulsing on the gurney, only able to raise
his head.

After 43 minutes of apparent anguish, the man died of a
heart attack. Lockett’s bungled execution led Oklahoma to reconsider its
lethal-injection protocols, and spurred Lockett’s brother to file suit —
alleging torture and human medical experimentation, among other claims.

In a recent decision, a federal appeals court upheld
the 2015 decision to dismiss the lawsuit, ruling that the lethal-injection
process did not qualify as cruel and inhumane, reported the Washington Post. What took place during the
execution, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th
Circuit held, was
a sort of “’innocent misadventure’” or “’isolated mishap.’”

The judges acknowledged that Lockett suffered during the
procedure. But citing previous Supreme Court death-penalty opinions, Judge
Gregory A. Phillips, writing for the court, stated that simply “’because an
execution method may result in pain, either by accident or as an inescapable
consequence of death, does not establish the sort of objectively intolerable
risk of harm that qualifies as cruel and unusual.’”

About Matt

An analysis of crime and punishment from the perspective of a former prosecutor and current criminal justice practitioner.
The views expressed on this blog are solely those of the author and do not reflect the opinions or postions of any county, state or federal agency.